Engaging Ideas - 11/22/2017

Embracing conversations about politics at the Thanksgiving dinner table. A look at how race impacts income equality. Increasing engagement across political and cultural lines. New York’s preliminary graduation rates. Examining why despite higher education attainment, women still lag behind men in workforce. Looking at the next step in shared decision-making in health care.

Democracy

Yes, the Clintons should be investigated (Washington Post)
President Trump’s critics are arguing that GOP calls for the Justice Department to investigate Hillary Clinton and Democrats’ ties to Russia are an effort to distract from the real Russia investigation, into potential Trump-Russia collusion. No, they are not.

Opportunity/Inequality

Income inequality is bad enough, then add the race factor (The Hill)
According to our new report, there's been a rapid updraft of wealth into the top echelon of multi-billionaires. The wealthiest 400 Americans now have more wealth together than the bottom 64 percent of the population, over 200 million of us. That's bad enough. But through the lens of race, these statistics reveal another dimension of the story. Only seven of the 400 wealthiest Americans are black or Latino — the rest are almost entirely white

Millennials are set to be the most unequal generation yet (Quartz)
In an economic climate where the top 1% own half the world’s wealth, a new analysis by Credit Suisse suggests that millennials in several advanced economies are likely going to face the worst income inequality of any generation in recent memory.

Bill Would Force Students Who Don’t Graduate to Repay Pell Grants (Chronicle of Higher Education)
The proposal, sponsored by Rep. Francis Rooney, Republican of Florida, and Rep. Ralph Norman, Republican of South Carolina, would compel students to repay Pell Grants — which, unlike loans, do not require repayment — if they did not complete their program within six years. The bill would apply to all students eligible for Pell Grants, including students at community colleges.